Swimster was apartment hunting in the Flatiron/Murray Hill district and we wanted to try a new restaurant, somewhere in the vicinity.
Walking down 2nd Avenue proved to be a great idea, as the street is filled with exciting looking restaurants. Now, if he moves there, I'll have a good excuse to familiarize myself with the strip.
We read about
The Mermaid Inn on
NY Metro, and like Amazon.com's marketing ploy to interest you in other products (if you like this, you'll like this), they did something similar with restaurants...."If you like Le Bernardin, you'll like
the mermaid inn..." Sounded like a good pick to me.
Reservations are recommended at this place, but unfortunately, only for the 2 dining rooms. If you want to eat in the garden it's first come first serve, and if you get there at 9 like we did it's late come NO serve in the garden. The line ahead of us was just that long.
The hostess seated us in the back room along the banquette and up against the wall. A far cry from the best seat in the house. The front room is much more spacious and open with white walls and nautical prints and holds the restaurant's bar. The back room is much darker and cramped, with dark wooden beams and walls, feeling like a captain's quarters and seemed to be for larger parties and the occasional couples not cool enough to sit in the front.
Despite our seat, and the couple next to us blatantly playing footsie-feelie under the table, our dinner was very enjoyable.
Menu Memorables: char tartar served with crisp pumpernickel bagel crisps are a must. The tartar was a little sweet a little sour, a little soft a little crisp..the perfect blend of flavor and texture. The fried oysters were just that, fried oysters. And the rock shrimp corn fritter was a little heavy on the batter, but still a yummy indulgence if you feel like going the fried food route. I was going to order the dorade, something I had never even heard of, but was pleasantly forewarned by our server it would be served with tail and head, and I would have to de-bone it. Thanking her for this heads up, I opted for the skate instead, and my boyfriend ordered the lobster roll. The skate was lightly fried on top and served over a massive string bean salad, marinated in a sweet papaya sauce. The dish was excellent despite its overabundance of cubed potatoes. The lobster roll was good, though not as large as I was expecting, and the fries were way too overpowered by the bay spice...perhaps you might want to ask them to hold it for you so you can actually taste the potatoes.
And to top it all off, what I thought was a free espresso, turned out to be a complimentary chocolate mousse! A treat and definitely what put my stomach over the edge...of fullness...
96 Second Ave. (East Village) between 5th and 6th Sts.
212-674-5870
